‘It exerts a pervasive influence on the mind as it navigates and responds to modern life, often in surprising ways — like who you vote for.’

The study was carried out by researchers at New York University, and is discussed in a new book by Professor John Bargh, a psychology expert at Yale, titled ‘Before You Know It: The Unconscious Reasons We Do What We Do.’

In their study, published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, the researchers, led by Dr Jaime Napier, wrote: ‘Results suggest that socially (but not economically) conservative attitudes are driven, at least in part, by needs for safety and security.’

Professor Bargh suggests that the findings are an example of how we are still living with the ‘hard-won lessons’ of evolution.

He wrote: ‘The fundamental drive for physical safety is a powerful legacy of our evolutionary past.

‘It exerts a pervasive influence on the mind as it navigates and responds to modern life, often in surprising ways – like who you vote for.’